Cumbria Community Foundation - Furness: Opportunities and Challenges 2021

F U R N E S S – O P P O R T U N I T I E S & C H A L L E N G E S 28 Julie Barton, HR Director, Forge Europa, High Sheriff of Cumbria 2020-21: “There are a lot of innovative high-tech businesses which compete successfully on a national and international level, based in and around Ulverston. But we often face problems with recruitment. I think a hurdle to overcome is the brain drain where young people move away to university and don’t come back, as they don’t see the employment opportunities open to them here.” “Another hurdle is the area’s identification with the Barrow shipyard, the profile of which overshadows our other businesses.” “There are many other industries in High Furness offering good career progression that need greater visibility. High Furness needs promoting as a great place to live and work, to raise awareness of it being a place of aspiration and ambition where a fantastic life-work balance can be achieved.” Lucy Cavendish, Holker Hall Estate: “Building a local market for Cumbrian farm produce through branding and awareness raising might be part of a way forward for farming communities.” “The advantages of the area are the resilience of Cumbrians and the place where we live – there is the potential for a fantastic lifestyle, a healthy life if you choose, in a place that is beautiful.” Jayne Moorby, Marketing Manager, Oxley Group: “A key issue is around recruiting people with the right skills. It’s either developing young people in Furness to have the skills that we need to grow the business and/or it’s about making Cumbria an attractive place to live and work to encourage people to relocate to the area.” “We have a big need in the business here for electronics engineers, software engineers and digital skills to enable us to support innovation and improve productivity through digitalisation but we don’t have a natural feeder university in Cumbria covering these topics so we have to recruit from outside of the area. It’s vital that we align labour market needs with skills provision.”